Any love for the scampi fry? Those curious little hollow packages only available in pubs...

A special kind of pleasure, they are.

I always thought somebody should start a movement of "cuisine artificielle" with restaurants serving only the finest chemical flavours.

Scampi fries as an appetiser, followed by the more satisfying nice 'n spicy nik nak and perhaps some barbecue pringles. Then for dessert, refreshers (the kind with the powder), pop rocks and pear drops.

Any love for the scampi fry? ... I always thought somebody should start a movement of "cuisine artificielle" with restaurants serving only the finest chemical flavours.

well, one fine summer's day on the arran ferry (a 50-minute crossing), a friend and i accompanied two pints of bitter each with a packet of bacon fries (the scampi fry's rather less striking sibiling), a packet of scampi fries, then, er, another packet of bacon fries to finish off. one of the finest meals i've ever had

scampi fries=food of the gods
where do people stand on bobby's? quite fond of their prawn cocktail spirals, a lovely if slightly dubious thing
surprised people are defending the walkers sensations range (or indeed any crisp with 'sea salt' in)- gentrification of the crisp.

But last night I rediscovered Ribena. Even more than that, I discovered that a glass of Ribena with dinner staves off all the Claret and Merlot pangs, which means that Ribena could be a cure for incipient alcoholism, which means that

my life has been saved by Ribena.

(I'm not getting too excited just yet.)

Yesterday I received a junk email with the subject heading "you're gonna make it"

I went to a night at the Star & Garter (Manc indie / weird / biker dive in the rankest prozzy-ville) organized by some 16 year old Stockport kids called "Music For Paedophiles" (and YES it caused outrage in the local papers) and they had covered the walls with BOBBYS boxes and wrappers + a signed letter from the manager of Bobby's thanking them for their interest in BOBBYS CORNSNAX! THESE KIDS WERE GENIUSES!

i think the best thing about the star and garter is that it's a few minutes walk from the Waldorf/Jolly Angler etcetc (oh and all the amusing nearby carparks where many a tale has been woven).

Gary Lineker adverts for Walkers have always been one of the things that made Britain great.

Luka's post about it being a powerhouse says it all.

Craner, come over to the beer thread and join us on the everclear/tuica/rakia tip with your feverish E14 stories - now open to all comers and all pissheads, not just ale suppers!
p.s.
fabulous conversation in a bar just now with some old-skool Floridian mobbish geezer and some old Chicago bloke. the Chicago accent is fabulous - like Brooklyn wiseguy being done over by a Winnipeg farmhand. it's all the Slavic in the water.

There used to be a wonderful Smiths factory in Fforestfach, just outside Swansea. That factory (it was white, and had a tower with the old red and blue Smiths logo daubed on it) is imprinted on my psyche; it's almost mystrical. Of course, Walker's closed the factory in March and, according to press at the time, "sent employees a promotional pack of crisps as a goodwill gesture for losing their jobs."

This could be mitigated, maybe, if Walkers still produced the goods, nevermind running the game as they did two years ago, but no, no,that's just not the fucking case.